Her Last Plea✨

Chapter 7

Delphina sat still inside her hospital room, thinking how life could change overnight.

Having an arranged marriage - that too with the Watson's only heir - was convenient for her and so she was married off to Michael a week after her 21st birthday.

Early in their marriage, she was happy at being married to the boy she once had a crush on at school. However, Michael was not the man she had expected him to be. Unlike his father, Charles Watson, Michael did not believe in discriminating people due to social standards and he was also unwilling to handle his father's various firms. Still, Delphina thought, that Mike's enterprise of designing and selling branded clothing brought home plenty of money for her to splurge on. Mike's inheritance through his maternal grandfather also helped matters.

However, along with Michael came his friends and business partners, Garrett Greene and Alexis Miller. 'Royalty' was their brainchild and the three friends had started selling their designs to famous brands back when they were still in college. In their last year, however, they opened up their own store and introduced their own brand name by using the money Garrett had inherited after his parents' death. 'Royalty' was an instant hit, specially amongst the celebrities, and so it further solidified the friendship between the three and they were able to enter their names in the list of the rich people of New York.

While Mike and Garret were the faces of the business, Alexis was mainly in charge of designs. Hence, the boys had to travel a lot while Alexis stayed back.

Life was still going good, but things changed when Delphina and Michael had their first child, a daughter. And then all they heard about was the son they needed to have and not the daughter that was here.

During the times when Michael would be out of town for work, Delphina grudgingly started hanging out with Hailey Greene. Hailey's oldest son, Isaac, was two years older than Mira while her second son, Jayden, was exactly Mira's age. In fact, Mira and Jayden also shared the same birthday.

Alexis was often around at Hailey's during these playdates and Michael also used to leave Mira in Alexis's care when he was unable to find any other babysitter, ensuring a strong bond between Alexis and Mira.

Delphina had noticed early on that her daughter mostly gravitated towards Alexis, always excited to see the woman and always wanting Alexis to hold her.

After Arabelle's birth the pressure from her parents and Mike's father to produce a son became unbearable. And so, the endless amounts of fighting began between her and Mike. Here Delphina was with two daughters while her intention was to have only one son, all the while lacking any maternal instincts.

Ara, much like her older sister, soon became fond of Alexis as well. The girls loved spending time with Alexis and Delphina knew that the sentiment was mutual.

Delphina, herself, was insanely jealous of Hailey as four years after Jayden's birth she had another son, Karlos. But, Delphina was more jealous of Alexis for how calm and loving she was towards children - Delphina's own daughters in particular.

Delphina's hostility manifested from various points throughout the years. Having three children instead of one, not living the life that all previous Watson wives had lived and being married to a husband who didn't truly love her or their social standing.
While she had no problem with nannies raising her children, Mike was strictly against it. He believed that children should be raised by their parents as his own father hadn't let his mother raise him when he was young, and had left him with a nanny (though Ariana Watson had deeply wanted to be her son's primary caregiver).

When the divorce papers were being drawn up, Delphina happily agreed to hand over custody of all three children to Michael. He was better equipped to raise them then her anyway.

When she found out about her cancer, everything changed. The divorce was put on hold and Delphina somehow managed to awaken the maternal instincts she swore she never had.

She had somehow managed to bond with her daughters as someone who did more than just buy them toys. Mira was still a little frosty towards her but it was better than the cold shoulder she used to receive before from her eldest. Her son, on the other hand, came with an abundance of unconditional love and so she spent a lot of time with him, playing with his toy cars and reading stories.

The more she bonded with her children, Delphina became more aware of the vast amounts of time she hadn't spent with them and how little time she now had. It soon became the only regret she had in life.